Coin Chat Radio: Warman’s Coin Folders, Gold Market Conditions

The November 11, 2009 episode of Coin Chat Radio starts off with Bob Van Ryzin’s ‘What’s In the News’ discussing the US Commemorative Coin Act which includes a provision to strike up to 350,000 Girl Scout Silver Dollar Coins in 2013.

Also included in the new law (111-86) is an option for the Secretary of the Treasury to continue issuing numismatic items containing the 2009 Cents until June 30, 2010. Without the amendment, all sales would have had to end on December 31, 2009.

Publisher Scott Tappa is interviewed by Online Editor Lisa Bellavin about the new Warman’s coin folders available for purchase at ShopNumisMaster.com. Currently there are 14 different types that range in price from $4.99 to $7.99, covering the most popular coins that are still in circulation today.

"I hope that they help grow the hobby," Tappa excitedly states when asked what his hopes are for the new lines of coin folders. "We think that by, you know, marketing them and promoting them to some other people that may not have thought about it before, we can introduce coin collecting to a lot of people … and that’s obviously critical in the long term health of this hobby."

Listen to the episode for a free shipping code for the folders, which will also be available at select retailers soon.

Numismatic News Editor Dave Harper takes a few minutes with Pat Heller of Liberty Coin Service to talk gold, its recent high prices and how it is affecting the coin market.

"In terms of actual trading activity, what we’re finding is our own customers tend to be sitting tight with their precious metals holdings and adding to them," said Heller when asked what is going on with the gold market. "We have a surprising number of new customers that are first time buyers!"

Talk turns to coins that are selling well in his business, and why and if purity has anything to do with it.

"There are some scenarios where that could happen," responds Heller when asked if those who purchased alloyed gold could face a penalty in the future for not buying pure gold.

"If you get into a situation where everything is being melted down, the pure forms could be worth a slight amount more than the alloyed forms. If you contemplate maybe, for some reason, wanting to trade the items in the far east, there you pretty much have to have pure gold, or people just aren’t interested in it.

On the other hand, if you’re looking at a situation where perhaps, you know, the US Dollar or currency in some other country may fail and precious metals are actually being used as spending money, the alloyed forms would have a definite advantage of being able to survive handling.